State test scores released for San Dieguito students

ENCINITAS —— The state education department on Monday posted
results of the California Standards Test, a standardized test
measuring how well students are performing in a barrage of
subjects, especially math and English.

In San Dieguito, four of five seventh-grade students are reading
and writing at grade level, and nearly three of four
seventh-graders are performing at grade level or better in math,
according to the test results.

Grade level refers to the grade-specific set of skills and
abilities the state believes students should master.

The state reports showed that the five elementary school
districts that send students to San Dieguito —— Cardiff, Del Mar,
Encinitas, Rancho Santa Fe and Solana Beach —— made similar
showings and generally exceeded state and countywide performance on
the tests.

Students in second through 11th grades completed the California
Standards Test during sessions spread over days and weeks last
spring.

A school's reputation rides on the scores of the standards
tests. Schools must produce acceptable numbers of scores that the
state calls "proficient" or above or risk federal scrutiny under a
sweeping education law called the No Child Left Behind law.

Separate reports, which identify whether schools are or are not
making acceptable academic progress, are due for release this
fall.

Data for the largest of San Dieguito's five "feeder" school
districts, Encinitas Union School District, show that 77 percent of
fourth-graders and scored at levels considered proficient or above
in English Language Arts and 75 percent were proficient or above in
math.

The smallest of San Dieguito's feeder districts, Cardiff School
District, showed 74 percent of fourth-graders at or above
proficiency on the language test and 67 percent earning grade-level
marks in math.

Eighty-nine percent of fourth-graders in Del Mar Union School
District earned scores considered proficient or above in both
subjects, the state data show.

Among Rancho Santa Fe School District's fourth-grade students,
87 percent earned scores of proficient or above on the English test
and 90 percent exceeded the required thresholds in math.

Eight-nine percent of Solana Beach School District's
fourth-graders were proficient or above on the English test; 88
percent of them were proficient or above on the math test.

The Rancho Santa Fe district also serves seventh-graders and
posted 87 percent of them as proficient or above on the English
test and 75 percent as proficient or above on the math test.